Elysium
by Geekasauruz
Summary: Decades ago, in a secluded forest within Germany, experiments were underway to win World War 2. Bastion was one of the children stolen from his home and tested on. As a result his mind strengthened, finally resulting in Telekinetic abilities. What will happen when Bastion suddenly awakens in a new era, and a new world?
1. One

**Chapter One: _Über Soldaten_**

**Germany - 1942**

The sky seemed like it would never wash away the dark red that stained the horizon. Everything was burning, even books weren't safe from the Nazi regime. It may have been nothing but ink and paper, but it felt as if the ideas contained in the books were disappearing as the pages turned to ash. Bastion Keller still remembered the first book burning he had witnessed, and the feeling of hopelessness that it brought. It was a reminder of how far the country had fallen and denied its people of any original thought.

That was years ago now, back when Bastion had rebelliously dared to think for himself and to question the goals of their leader. He was a kid, no older than ten, and that was one of the last memories of the outside world that he carried with him. He was taken under a program titled simply 'Über Soldaten', an experiment to create the ultimate weapon... Soldiers with the ability to penetrate minds and fire weapons with nothing more than a thought.

Their goal was to use Aryan children for this experiment, for such a gift could only be given to those they deemed worthy of it. There were risks involved though, especially in the testing stages, so they took in other kids as well; ones without the purity of blond hair and blue eyes to use as Guinea Pigs. None of them survived.

They took these children from their families, many of which gave them up willingly in fear of the consequences, and were moved to a facility within an area of Baden-Württemberg known only as The Black Forest. In this dimly lit laboratory there was no movement and no odour of any kind. There were lights, but like the stars in a night sky they did little to lift the blackness. There was a black metallic roof above, and a black metallic floor below. Every footfall echoed around, not loudly, but enough to puncture the usual silence. It was enough to drive people mad, and maybe that was part of the plan.

"Number 148." A voice called over the loud speaker.

Bastion stood immediately, and without the slightest hint of hesitation, he sauntered towards the experimentation room. He was much older now, twenty-six to be exact. He had lived the majority of his life in those walls, training and preparing to be sent to war. He was taught multiple languages, advanced combat techniques and weaponry training in addition to how to use his newly formed powers.

He walked passed the morgue, people he'd known his entire life and kids that had been brought in not long ago were stacked in a lifeless pile. Most didn't survive the tests. Bastion was so use to the sight of corpses that he didn't even give it a second glance.

The door to his destination was already wide open. A man in a lab coat two sizes too big was holding it for him. Bastion didn't know his name but he had always seemed a little more decent than the other scientists.

When the man entered he saw five more people in the room... at least five more alive people. On the ground were four more, all lifeless corpses killed in various ways. One had a shard of glass lodged into his skull (from the broken mirror also present in the vicinity), another had no visible signs of damage but had died clutching his stomach, and the last two had their necks popped in sickening directions.

"Stand on the cross." One of the scientists commanded and Bastion immediately complied. "Today the brunt of your training will be tested. The stakes are high, do not fail."

"Jawohl!" Bastion quickly replied in German. The only proper response to anything they said was 'Jawohl' or 'yes, sir'.

The scientists often spoke to them outside of their native tongue to contribute to their language learning, often in English since it was quickly becoming the most used worldwide. The threat of being stolen by U.S. soldiers was growing as well, and if that happened they were to act as spies. This would obviously be a waste since they were primarily created as weapons to fight in the second World War, but it was important to have a backup plan.

Within seconds another person was shoved into the room. A criminal, from what Bastion could tell from their jumpsuit. The man looked slightly familiar... In fact, he held the same features as Bastion himself did. His head had been shaved, but the short strands of hair that remained were light. He had a sharp jaw and one of his bottom teeth slightly overlapped the other.

The only thing that differed from Bastion were his eyes. Bastion had previously held blue eyes, but the extensive experiments had altered one of them to a golden brown. The man in front of him had hazel eyes - a mixture of both brown and green that clashed together as if they were confused of which colour they wanted to be.

"This man's name is Heinrich Keller." The scientist said in a bland monotone. "He is your biological father."

Bastion spared the criminal a sideways glance but his face was void of emotion. He didn't remember his father, and so he had no connection to him. He had been trained to feel no attachment to anything but his country. It seemed harsh, but to him it was the only rational way to think.

The scientist examined the boys reaction, or lack thereof, and continued. "Kill him."

"Jawohl." He replied lowly. Bastion didn't sound surprised at all by this order.

The scientist narrowed his eyes at the younger man. "In English, boy."

Bastion straightened his posture and said in a much clearer voice "Yes, sir."

Finally, he turned to his supposed father once more. His stare was sharp and his mind clear of any argument. No one disagreed, they had no minds of their own. The thought to refuse didn't even cross him, not even when the man's eyes began to water and he repetitively begged 'please'.

"Only cowards plead in the face of death." Bastion said coldly. "You are a disgrace to our great nation."

The only emotion he felt now was disappointment. He had been born to a weakling, and it was a shame he'd never wash out. To kill him now seemed like a mercy, at least he would no longer degrade their country.

Bastion focused on the criminal, and scraped all of his brains strength together. A vein started to become visible in his forehead, and he began to taste something metallic on his tongue. His father's breath hitched, and then his entire body erupted into seizures. His head felt like it was being caved in, as if it were being crushed between two boulders. His eyes rolled upward and suddenly the criminal was gripped by darkness. There was a disgusting noise, squelchy and splattered, as the man's brain was blown apart inside his skull. The pain that once burned like fire had faded away to an icy numbness that followed him into death.

The man's body joined the others scattered on the ground. Bastion, without a hint of remorse, wiped the drop of blood that had streamed out of his mouth and turned back towards the scientist.

"Very good." The nameless man said. "Proceed into the room on your left and wait for your next orders."

Bastion didn't even give the corpse of his father another look when he left. The moment he was taken his family had become nothing but a blurred memory, strangers that he had no desire to find or see again.

When he entered the next room the door behind him was shut tight. He saw that there were a few others in there with him but nowhere near as many as he had been expecting. Time passed and two more joined them, however the population of the facility test subjects had been reduced by about eighty percent. To put it in simpler terms, there were only twelve people in that room of the sixty experiments still alive.

Most of the others appeared to be the same age as Bastion, around twenty-seven years old, but there was one new child that had recently been taken away. All of them were Aryan - blonde hair, blue eyes and stark white.

The speakers hanging in the room made a loud whistling sound as they were turned on, then the voice of a woman spoke. "Of the five hundred children we brought here over the years, only sixty remain. Of that number only twelve of you were able to prove your loyalty to this great country. This is a disappointing number but you will be rewarded for your actions. As the failures march to the front lines to defend against our enemies, you will be preserved for further testing and saved for the brunt of our attack. Each of you will step into one of the pods in this room. You have fifteen seconds."

This was the first time Bastion realised that there were machines lined on either side of the vicinity. He didn't waste time pondering what they were for despite how suspicious they appeared. Instead, just like everyone else, he found an empty one and stepped inside. There was little room, and as soon as he'd turned back around a glass door had locked him in place. It was such a tight fit that every breath fogged the glass and warmed his face.

"All subjects secure." A robotic voice echoed throughout every individual chamber. "Beginning task of preservation."

Suddenly it was cold... then it was freezing. Bastion's body temperature dropped so quickly that it felt like his insides were nothing but icicles. This didn't last long though. Soon his sight had vanished in a flash of white, and his mind shut down as if preparing for death. He had no meaningful final thought, or a flashback of his life... All he could think about was the cold. It was numbing every nerve in his body, every sign of his existence.

Modern Day

A loud beeping buzzed through the air, and in the dead silence it was deafening. In what felt like mere seconds to him, Bastion regained consciousness and found himself still sealed inside of the machine.

Warmth slowly begun to spread back through his body, leaving aches in every single muscle. There was thick fog swirling inside of the chamber and so Bastion was blind to the outside world, but soon the glass door reopened itself and that same mist rushed outward.

For at least a minute or so, whilst waiting to regain his own senses, Bastion waited for his next orders. When none came he found himself confused and goalless (which he didn't like at all). He attempted to step out of his icy tomb but his legs collapsed beneath him. They were still thawing, it seemed, and it sent him tumbling face first into solid ground.

Bastion hissed at the impact, finding one of the other machines and used it as support to force himself back up. It was a struggle but he somehow managed to stand on his weakened legs. It felt like he hadn't used them in years...

He leaned against the chamber, eyes finally wandering up from the ground. What he saw should have startled him much more than it did. In the machine he was using as support was a person, one of the other test subjects, only they were half rotted meat and bones.

His eyes widened at the sight but little else showed any signs of a reaction. He'd seen so much death that he'd grown indifferent towards it. Still, it was confusing to see.

He let his eyes flick around the remainder of the room... and each of the others were in a similar state. Some were still in the early stages of decaying, others were practically glorified skeletons. One of them, the person in the tube next to Bastion's, looked like he'd died more recently than the rest.

Before Bastion could even attempt to deduct a proper explanation the door on the far side of the room opened, and a woman walked in. She was wearing the same attire as the scientists in the facility always did - a white coat over brown military gear. She approached him with a stern gaze and for a moment he wasn't sure what his next action should be, so instead of coming up with it himself, he waited for her to give him an order.

"Willkommen zurück." She spoke in a clear and smooth voice... which was the first indication that something was wrong.

It essentially meant 'Welcome back', but the scientists were never a friendly bunch and certainly wouldn't have treated him so warmly. It also raised the question of where exactly he had been to warrant a welcome, but that was of little importance with the situation he was in. She wasn't German, he could tell instantly. Her accent wasn't harsh or fluent, it was the voice of an american trying to poorly imitate his language.

Threateningly, he stepped towards the woman. She must have realised that she hadn't fooled him because she scrambled back in fright at this small movement. Her hand grasped the doorknob, trying to turn it... but something was preventing the door from opening. Her stare fell back to the man only to find that he was right in front of her, eyes blazing with rage.

"You are not German." He hissed.

The girl shook her head and attempted once more to open the door... Still nothing.

"I'm sorry, they told me that you'd find it easier to adapt if we tried to pretend that you were still there..." The woman gulped but it did nothing for her dry throat. "Please... let me go."

"Excessive begging has never convinced me to spare a persons life before." Bastion leaned in, focusing on her airway and cutting off any oxygen from making it through - all only with his mind. "That isn't likely to change."

The woman felt as if her lungs were slowly filling with water, as if there was less space in them for the air. Inflating them felt like pushing up a lead weight on her chest, and eventually the exhaustion of each breath prevented the next. She doubled over, face colouring blue and eyes sheening with tears that wouldn't release.

Luckily for her, the door was forced open in Bastion's distraction and a military man walked through.

"Stop!" He yelled, pointing a gun at Bastion's head. "Number 148, do not make me kill you."

At the mention of the name given to him in the facility, Bastion ceased his minds grip on the woman's throat. She coughed and wheezed, then finally hurried away as if she were scared he'd change his mind. Maybe he would have... He and the others had been warned that American soldiers were trying to find them. That they would take them from the facility and torture them until they begged for death, that's why they were taught to recognise any accent that wasn't German, even if the person was attempting to hide that accent.

"Now, I need you to calm down." The American man said despite his weapon still being pointed at Bastion. "You've been in that tube for a very long time. We've been trying to revive your people for years now but every attempt only killed them... until now. We are curious of your supposed abilities but we have no intention of hurting you."

"A shame," Bastion replied lowly. "because my intentions are not nearly as friendly."

With that the gun in the man's hand was snatched away by nothing but the wind, and it turned to face him with the trigger shivering. He dove out of the way just in time but the bullet went straight through the leg of a security guard behind him. Another gun zoomed through the air and landed in Bastion's grasp, now there were two shooting at everyone in sight, one being held and the other in mid-air.

"W-Wait!" The military man yelled once more.

"I grow tired of your cowardice." Bastion growled at the man that was still hiding behind the wall.

"You're not in Germany any longer! You're not even in your own era anymore! We're the only ones that can help you."

Bastion scoffed. He had never heard such idiocy before. They were trying to trick him, he knew it, and he wasn't going to fall for it. He turned the corner, and with one white flash, he shot the man clean through the chest.

Once it seemed like no one else was willing to attack, Bastion left the building. He froze solid at what he saw. He was in a large and unfamiliar city. It lay clustered, ruddy on the ground, glittering in the clear air with its flat roofs and domes and square towers. Everything was alien to him, there were remnants of the time he once knew but most of it was so advanced that he couldn't begin to comprehend it. The city was a vast, intricate, labyrinth of noisy, streets and alleys. He could hear the incessant honking of the vehicles even before he had taken his first breath of fresh air.

He wasn't quite sure when he started walking or why. He didn't even know how long it had been. Bastion was lost in a modern world that insisted that the American man had told him the truth, but it was such a nonsensical concept that he still found it difficult to believe.

The only thing able to jolt his mind back into reality was the sound of a loud 'boom' and a woman falling from the sky... only she wasn't falling. When she landed she didn't appear to be injured in fact there was more damage to the ground than to her.

The woman was noticeably tall with long black hair, sharp eyes, and broad shoulders. She was well-toned yet muscular in build. She wore a strapless red bustier held up by a brace of gold resembling two W's, a large golden belt, blue briefs with five white stars on them, and red boots with a white stripe on the front side.

The people around him began to to whisper amongst themselves, many gasping in awe and referring to her as 'Wonder Woman'. He had never heard of her but it seemed like she left quite an impression on these people.

"I have been asked to take you in." She said in a strong voice, one with an accent he couldn't quite determine. "Do not resist. I am not as lenient as the people that you shot."

Bastion's face scrunched but he raised the gun to her nonetheless. He remembered shooting it, but the bullet didn't make contact... or it did and she had somehow not been injured by it. The flash that sped into an empty building beside her when she raised her hand and bracelets (smashing the window in the process) made him believe that it was the latter.

"You have made your decision." She spoke again, but that was the last thing he could recall before she flew towards him and knocked him out cold. He felt an intense yet fleeting pain, and that was all. Complete and utter darkness.

———————————

_**Author's Note**: This story is part of my DC series, which consists of eight stories (Invincible, Escape Velocity, Throne of Atlantis, Inhuman, Mortal, Peacekeeper, Elysium, and Legacy). It's not necessary to read them all if you're not interested, but they will link together as if they were operating within the same universe._


	2. Two

**_Chapter Two: Hades_**

When Bastion regained consciousness he was strapped to a chair inside what he assumed was someone's office. Some things hadn't changed at all in the decades he'd been gone. The desk and chairs were still made of wood or metal, and there were posters strewn over holes in the walls in an attempt to give it some character. Other aspects, however, were terrifyingly new. The thing on his desk, for example. It was compact and sleek in its design, at least by Bastion's standards, and from where he was sitting he could have sworn that he saw something on the other side... Some sort of dark glass and a gadget with letters on buttons.

Bastion pulled against the straps with a scowl then glanced up to the figures entering the room. One was the woman from before. She was taller than the man beside her, with a shield on her back and a lasso in her hands. The other looked to be in a position of power. He was draped in military attire and ribbons of honour were clipped to his chest.

"I understand that you made quite a mess of our science facility." The man spoke, sauntering over to the free chair and resting in it. "You'll be pleased to know that the man you shot is alive. We managed to get him medical help just in time."

"That does not please me." Bastion sneered threateningly. "He is a waste of life."

Behind him, he could almost feel Wonder Woman fuming at his words. At the very least he knew she was half a second away from knocking him out again. It didn't seem within her character to do so without cause though... much to Bastion's relief.

"Considering that you're from a different time, and likely exposed to Nazi propaganda during the war, I'll let that slide." The man said sternly, and suddenly his harmless face scrunched into something much more intimidating. "Say it again though, and I'll allow Wonder Woman to drop you from the tallest building in the city."

"Sounds preferable to listening to you Americans." Bastion snapped back.

The man shook his head in slight annoyance, and finally gave Wonder Woman a small nod. This had her shifting over to Bastion and wrapping her lasso tightly around his form. Bastion, admittedly confused, furrowed his brow at the both of them. He was already strapped down... He didn't know why they thought additional rope was necessary.

"Let's start again." The man said a lot more calmly this time. "I'm General Rayland, what should we call you?"

"Your superior." Bastion replied with a wicked smirk.

Wonder Woman yanked on the lasso and sent his back slamming against the hard wood of the chair. "You are superior to no one." She hissed at him.

"Fascism went out of style decades ago." General Rayland quipped, though his expression remained firm. "Now, do you have a name?"

"No." was Bastion's quick reply.

The lasso around him tightened and started to glow. Each section of the rope let off a seering heat that felt as if it was burning right through his clothes. Bastion's emotions turned from defiance to confusion in an instant. He stared down wide eyed at the lasso, both terrified and intrigued but not showing either.

"The lasso of Hestia compels you to tell the truth." Wonder Woman said lowly, pulling him further into the chair until it was almost at breaking point. "Now, speak!"

"I wouldn't suggest resisting. It stings like a bitch if you do." The General warned as if he himself had felt its power. "We're not asking these questions for our own benefit. We already know all about you, this is just a test to ensure that there's no permanent brain damage or memory loss from unfreezing you."

Bastion didn't budge. Only his eyes moved and they flicked up to the general with a conditioned hatred, one he had been manipulated into having. Bastion knew he could kill him right there and then, but the woman seemed much stronger than he had ever anticipated. He wasn't sure if his mind tricks would work on someone like her, and so the risk was not worth taking... at least for now.

"I'll ask again. What's your name?" The General repeated.

Bastion's lips tightened. He said nothing to them. He thought, considering that this wasn't a lie, that the lasso would cease its burning. It didn't make a difference. If anything, it worsened its effect.

It quickly became difficult to keep his mouth closed, and though he intended to dodge the question, it was as if the words came spilling out of his mouth without permission.

"Bastion Ke-" He immediately bit down on his lip, so hard that it started to draw blood. He refused to tell them anything... He had been trained to die before giving any information to the Americans.

"I'll just assume that you finished that statement, Mr Keller." Rayland said knowingly. "But the German scientists called you by a different name, didn't they? A number to be exact. What was it?"

The rope's grip tightened around him and now it felt so hot that he thought his skin might melt from his bones. A choke left his throat, and as he continued refusing to answer, the pain became more severe. He growled, he dug his short fingernails against the armrest until they bent backwards, he clenched his teeth so hard that they felt like they might shutter... but under no circumstances did he speak, even as the pain grew unbearable.

"Resistance will only make it worse." The General warned but it made no difference. Bastion would rather die by his own hand than help them.

Eventually his groans of pain turned into muffled screams, and the rope still continued to grow hotter. General Rayland waved his hand at Wonder Woman and she unwrapped the lasso from his body. The relief was instant, but surprising. He had expected them to continue torturing him for much longer... Days, at least. Maybe even months.

"I think we've got enough information to assume that his memory's intact." Rayland said with a heavy exhale.

Wonder Woman, when Bastion got a glimpse at her face, seemed a little surprised that he'd resisted the lasso. More importantly, she looked a little guilty as well. No matter how much she despised that man, she was never one to enjoy watching someone in pain. For the most part she never had to. Sure, she'd met one or two Meta-human's that could resist the lasso but much of the time they had advanced brain function... Telekinesis and Telepathy. She could assume that he was similar but since she knew nothing about him it seemed like a foolish thing to expect.

"I'm aware of your situation." Rayland tried again. "It must be difficult to trust us, but I ensure you that we have your best interests at h-"

A loud sonic boom suddenly ripped through the air followed by a choir of screams. Wonder Woman immediately jumped to action, exiting the room without ever consulting Rayland. This was how Bastion discovered that she was not part of the military, and they didn't control her actions. She was there of her own free will, likely some do-gooder that was asked for assistance.

Rayland shook off the shock of hearing such terror and turned back to Bastion with a sigh. "She'll handle whatever's happening outside, but in the meantime I want you to take a look at this."

The man turned the sleek piece of technology on his desk so that the glass was facing Bastion. He pressed one of the buttons and a bright light illuminated from it, images appearing on the display. Bastion jumped back in terror, eyes refusing to blink in fear that the brightness might engulf him entirely.

"What is this witchcraft!" Bastion yelled through gritted teeth.

"I know this is quite shocking for someone that came before the era of screens and modern computers, but I need you to concentrate on the images." Rayland said in a calm voice. "It won't hurt you. It's a harmless device that can reveal truths about your history that you weren't ever aware of. Now, focus."

Bastion's face scrunched in resistance, but there was nothing else he could do but comply. The gadget was so new to him that he found it difficult to look away. On the so called 'screen' were images of copses scattering the ground. So many... too many.

"This is what your country fought for in the war. Death. The demise of innocent people."

"You're wrong." Bastion hissed. "You're lying to me!"

"I'm not. This is your history." Rayland said lowly. "I doubt the scientists told you about the reality of the Nazi regime. They probably spewed propaganda at you, and convinced everyone under the program that it was the Americans that wanted this, am I right?"

Bastion didn't answer. He just narrowed his eyes at the man as if he were unwilling to accept what he had heard.

"I can let you go and research this for yourself. You'll find the same results."

"History is written by scholars, not soldiers." Bastion finally spat. "And always by the winning side. Your writings and texts mean nothing to me. They are lies."

"Then look into my mind. You can do that, can't you?" Rayland leaned back in his chair, gaze fixed on the German. "It said in your files that you could, and I'm nothing special. Not like our lady friend, at least. It should be easy for you to find the truth."

Still sceptical, Bastion focused on the General. Onto his eyes, through their dark surface, and then into the contents of his mind. He saw many things in there, and all at once. Memories of his time in the military, his family... a wife and two daughters. He heard his laughter, and felt his heartbreak. Then, he stumbled upon the section he was looking for - the place information was stored. He found nothing about him hurting Bastion, and everything about his mission to reintroduce him to society. Then he found the older information, the things he read as a teenager about the sins of Nazi Germany.

This is the exact moment when he pulled away, baring his teeth in denial. "It doesn't matter what you were told. Just because you believe it that doesn't make it the truth. I knew people there... good people. They'd never do such things."

With the strong woman gone Bastion released himself from the straps that bound him, using nothing but a thought. Then, grabbing the sharpest object he could find (a letter opener) he jumped onto the desk and held it at the mans throat.

"I'm done with your attempts to trick me, old man." He snarled.

More screams sounded from outside, and now Rayland was set on edge. Sweat dripped from his brow and his eyes constantly flicked from the knife to the door leading outside where more chaos awaited. Bastion pressed the letter opener even closer to his neck, enough to get a close shave. Any further and he'd draw blood.

"Look, Bastion, I know you're not a bad man. The fact that you haven't killed me yet proves that." Rayland flinched when the German pushed the sharp object briefly against the thin skin over his Adam's apple. "We, in this day and age, don't believe that every German present during the war was particularly bad either. Hitler was evil, his actions even more so, but his soldiers were mostly normal men. Ones that were either mislead or scared. The people that worked closely with him were executed after the war but the people of Germany were given sympathy. They endured much hardship, some more than others, but all under the rule of a despicable monster."

Rayland took a moment to gulp down the rest of his shock, and saw reluctance in Bastion's mismatched eyes. "You were told that the Americans planned on killing everyone in Germany. That they wanted to rule every country under their own government. They were lying to you. They manipulated children into their own ideals with falsehoods." Rayland continued. "Even if I'm somehow wrong, are you really going to punish us, or me, for the sins of our ancestors? We made our decision by bringing you back, now you must make yours."

Everything Bastion had been taught growing up urged him to slit the General's throat and find a way back to his own country, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Something much deeper in him, more human, begged him to stop. It would have been shameful in his time to let Rayland free... but he'd seen the man's mind and it was that of an honourable, honest man.

The very second that the letter opener was pulled away from his neck, Rayland touched it as if expecting to be bleeding. He was fine though, and once he realised this, he stood back to his feet. "Thank you. I will try and be worthy of your trust."

"See that you do." Bastion replied coldly. "I don't need a knife to kill you."

"In the meantime we should check on the situation outside... Maybe you can help Wonder Woman calm everything down."

"Why?" Bastion said in a monotone.

"Because people might die if you don't."

The man furrowed his brow and answered rather cruelly "Are they so weak that they can't defend themselves? America would likely be stronger without them."

"We don't think that way here. They're not super soldiers, like you, they're just innocent people." Rayland snapped at Bastion. "We fight for those that can't do so themselves. They have every right to their lives that you do."

Bastion huffed in response. It would obviously take a little longer to convince him of this mindset, but at the very least he seemed to agree to help. He slid to his feet and followed the General out. The building outside had a giant hole in it, but the streets were worse. Cars had been turned over and smashed, shops were crumbling along the sidewalk, and there were massive potholes in the road. Wonder Woman laid in one, slightly beat up, but still managing to crawl her way back to standing position.

Bastion's eyes then shifted to the right, and there he saw the enemy. It suddenly put everything into perspective... There were bigger issues than that between countries now.

The villain was tall... much larger than anything or anyone he'd ever seen. He wore a crown of decaying fingers on his head, and his clothes were weaved of both bones and fresh meat. His face was the most jarring of all... It didn't even look like a face. His skin was drooping and peeling off, melting like hot wax and exposing parts of his skull. Bastion had never known true fear until that moment, when he looked into the face of hell itself.

"Halt, Hades!" Wonder Woman roared over the the civilians screaming and running in terror. "Your wrath upon this world ended long ago."

The God let out an ear piercing cackle, tightening his hold on a staff that was nothing but a spine with fresh drops of blood still falling off the vertebrae. He pounded the tailbone against the ground and it rumbled as a result.

Bastion, who still couldn't fully process this, knew only one thing for certain. He was created to fight and fear wasn't going to lock him in place or force cowardice. The German man rushed to Wonder Woman's side, preparing to assist in any way he could... but the ground continued to growl. Cracks formed right through the road and hands of the damned began to reach through it. They grabbed Wonder Woman, and with a strength that equalled hers, they pulled her into the dark depths. Bastion had barely realised that she was gone before one stray hand clutched onto his ankle, and pulled him down with her.


	3. Three

**_Chapter Three: Grove of Persephone_**

Bastion had been falling forever, and he was falling still. It felt like it had been years before his body finally cracked onto the ground...years of falling into nothing without food, water, or company.

His impact with the ground was agony. The kind that convinced him that every bone in his body was broken and that he should be dead, but he wasn't.

It took a few moments for Bastion to force himself back onto his feet. He was surprised that his legs hadn't been snapped in two, but grateful nonetheless.

When he finally managed to glance at his surroundings, his lungs were denied of all oxygen. It felt like they were filled with heavy lead and weighing him down with each breath. This place was like nothing he'd ever seen before...

The sky was littered with the colour of blood, the red swirled into darker shades then back out into horrifying gore. The smell of death filled his nose, like that of the corpses that had been left to rot in the facility all those decades ago. Everything else was covered in a filter too dark for his eyes to ever grow used to.

There was forest surrounding him in every direction. No matter which way he chose to start walking, he would end up being swallowed by the thick, twisted trees. That forest was one of the places that had no palpable reason to exist.

The unnatural, choking mist that swirled and sprawled on the forest floor was the first thing that spoke of a strange sort of wrongness. The sickly white substance seemed to possess liquid properties which only reminded of the maggot-like texture of a dead man's eyes, ready to burst with the slightest touch. The smoke made no sound but it swallowed his feet as it rolled towards him.

The mist then spread around him, drawing his attention to the temple nearby. It was a grand structure with a marble statue of a half naked woman in front of it. It looked as if it might fall apart at any minute but the vines winding up its form kept it together.

"You should not have followed me." A voice boomed through the quiet atmosphere and echoed around him. He turned his head to see Wonder Woman towering over him.

"I didn't." He growled back, more than a little annoyed at her assumptions. "I was dragged down with you."

"That is unfortunate for you." She replied. "This is no place for mortal men."

Bastion furrowed his brow. "And what exactly is this place?"

Wonder Woman straightened her posture and stepped forward, averting her eyes from him and toward the temple. "Many knew it as the Underworld... Today, however, it's simply called Hell."

"H-Hell?" Bastion's voice found air but he was too shocked to hear it. Fear curled up inside him and clung to his ribs, settling uncomfortably in his chest. Bastion didn't doubt the feeling was there to stay, reminding him of its existence every time he opened his mouth to breathe.

Bastion didn't believe it... He couldn't...and yet it was right in front of him. Just as it felt like he could no longer process any more changes, a woman appeared from inside the temple. The young woman held herself like her upper spine was rubber, shoulders falling forwards in a way that would be more befitting a grandmother.

Her porcelain skin was ashen, almost anemic; a cold sweat glistened on her forehead and her recessed cheeks; the moss of her eyes had turned into a leaf that was desperately trying to cling onto the last bit of its chlorophyll, its life. She had hair so dark orange against skin so white that it created a contrast that only served to make the girl look all the more ghostly, all the more haunting; her lips that were likely once pink and soft, were now chapped and bleeding. She looked tired, sick.

On her withering body she wore nothing but plant life. Dead leaves covered her form, and blackened vines crawled up the length of her legs and arms.

The shadow of the statue stretched over her, and now it was clear that it had been sculpted in her likeness. The statue looked far more alive than she did though.

"Persephone." Wonder Woman spoke gently as the woman approached them. "It is good to see you, sister."

"Diana." Persophone replied in a congealed voice. "What brings you to this place?"

"Your husband has, once again, banished me here."

The woman frowned at this, making her look even duller than before. "Then I must apologise on his behalf... I do not understand why he persists with this foolishness."

"You have nothing to apologise for. I have grown used to his scheming."

Bastion, who was wrought with both shock and confusion, finally managed to string a few words together. "Wait a second! What's going on here? Who is that?"

Many possibilities had run through Bastions mind, each more bewildering than the last. He had attempted to read their thoughts but he couldn't gather enough concentration to even get a glimpse. He thought that, perhaps, if this was hell then she was Lucifer... or maybe the man on the surface was. However, it seemed a lot deeper than that. He wasn't willing to make a fool of himself by vocalising his guesses.

"I am Persephone." Her dreary voice answered. "Daughter of the Goddess of harvest, Demeter, and the God of Thunder, Zeus. Wife to Hades and Queen of the Underworld."

Bastion simply blinked at her in response, expression twisting into one of disbelief.

"And you are...?" Persephone begun before observing him closer. "Mortal. Diana, why did you bring a mortal here...?"

"It was your husband." Diana sighed.

"Mortals should never set foot in this realm...they are much too fragile." Persephone said in a worried tone. "You must help him escape before his form begins to decay."

"Is that a threat, lady?!" Bastion hissed, ready for a fight to pursue.

"I will do my best." Diana spoke clearly over him, ignoring his threatening gaze.

"Then I have no doubt that he will return safely, Amazon Champion." Persephone smiled weakly but it didn't suit her at all, at least not in her current state. "Now, you must depart. Hades will return soon and you must be far away from here when he does."

Diana simply nodded and gave a rather respectful bow before leaving. She had started to walk towards the many trees that surrounded them, a confident stride in her step.

Bastion turned between Diana and the Goddess in front of him. Ultimately, he chose to run after Diana. She may have been the strongest person he'd ever met, but she was nowhere near as strange as Persephone.

As they both disappeared into the grove, Bastion received a closer, unwelcome look at the forest. All the trees were tightly-knit, just one strand in a massive web of dead bark. They were lifeless sticks of charcoal, reaching up like spindly fingers ready to attack.

The sight was panic inducing... even for someone as ruthless as Bastion, and so, in a desperate attempt to maintain his sanity, Bastion started to speak. "So... She's your sister? I don't really see the resemblance..."

"All women are my sisters." Wonder Woman said bluntly, and rather harshly. It became obvious that she didn't want to converse with the likes of him. When the silence lingered around them though she seemed to change her mind. If they were going to be travelling together, they might as well be civil. "...But Persephone is different. She is my blood. My half-sister, in your terms."

"Half-sister?..." Bastion pressed. "Who exactly are you then?"

"I am Diana of Themyscira." She answered without the slightest sign of hesitation. "Daughter of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, and Zeus, the King of Olympus."

"A... Demi-God?" He said in disbelief. This just kept getting even more unbelievable... Bastion kept expecting to jolt awake in the facility, like it was some kind of elaborate dream forced upon him. It never happened though.

"So... uh... Where are we exactly?" Bastion said when Wonder Woman had no response to his shock. "I mean, in terms of the Underworld."

"We are currently in the Grove of Persephone." Diana answered simply. "And we are looking for the Elm in which false dreams cling; that will guide us forward."

"Oh, so we're looking for a tree...in a forest." Bastion groaned.

"Your pessimistic attitude will not help us locate the Elm."

"It's not pessimistic, it's realistic. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of trees in here. How are we meant to find one in particular?"

"I've done it countless times before." Diana said bluntly. "And I didn't do it by giving up."

Sensing that this conversation wasn't very productive, Bastion swallowed his own doubts and raked his mind for something else to discuss. Silence wasn't an option, not in such an eerie place.

"Well, while we're looking, why don't you bring me up to speed with what's happening... I think I have the right to know now that I'm involved."

Diana pondered this, whacking a dead tree branch out of her path and breaking it clean off the tree. "What do you wish to know?"

Bastion paused, he hadn't thought that far ahead. "Anything. Why did Hades send us here? And why is Persephone helping us?"

"Hades has sent me here many times, an attempt to fight me on his grounds I assume. I always escape. I don't even think he knows why he does it." Diana replied, but that only confused Bastion even more. "Persephone's story is not a pleasant one. The relationship she has with her husband is complicated."

"Complicated?"

"First you must understand that their love did not form naturally. Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, wanted to prove to her son Eros that she had the power to make anyone fall in love." Diana started taking longer steps to cover more ground, and Bastion only barely managed to keep up. "They selected Hades, as he was considered a man that could love no one, and she forced him to fall in love with the first woman he saw...Persephone. In his crazed infatuation, he stole her from the surface and brought her here."

"So...he kidnapped her?"

"Technically speaking, yes."

"And she...married him?" Bastion scoffed as if the entire concept was absurd to him.

"She didn't have much choice, but she did eventually grow to love him." Diana said lowly. "She was stuck in the Underworld, six months of every year because she ate the food here. If you eat anything in the underworld, your soul is bound to it. She ate only six pomegranate seeds and that was enough to secure her place here."

"Don't eat anything." Bastion quickly replied. "Got it."

"Unless you wish to be trapped here."

"No thanks."

This conversation quickly ended, but was replaced just as rapidly by another once Diana spotted the Elm. It was not as large as Bastion had expected, but not exactly small either. It was the only thing in that place that actually looked alive. It's leaves were bright green and sparkled under a non-existent sun.

"Every soul enters with unfinished business." Diana started without any need to be asked for an explanation. "Dreams that they didn't accomplish, hopes that were wasted in their death. This is where they all end up. Each leaf holds a different persons lost desires."

"I thought it'd be bigger..." Bastion said, thankful that there was no one there to take his words out of context. "I mean, a lot of people die."

"With each death a new leaf replaces another. If you pluck one off another will grow in its place from a person that died before them." Diana explained. "You could pick each leaf off one by one for the rest of your existence, and still never find the bare branch."

Out of curiosity, Bastion touched his index finger to one of the leaves and it shivered under the touch then started glowing even brighter. Finally, he caught it in his hand and tugged it off, only for Diana to be proved correct. Another leaf swiftly grew in its place, as if it had always been there.

The leaf he now held in his hand swirled with colour, and like a crystal ball, an image appeared from within; one of a woman holding a newborn. A sadness flashed in Diana's eyes, one that Bastion couldn't even begin to understand.

Bastion, in a lapse of judgement, attempted to throw the leaf away but Diana stilled his hand with a firm grip. "You cannot mistreat someone's lost wishes!" She said in outrage.

"They're unachieved goals... I don't see their relevance." Bastion retorted coldly.

"These are all that remain of their mortal forms!" Diana argued.

"You mean to tell me that, when you die, the only important thing you leave behind is the things you didn't do..." Bastion sneered at the very thought. Failure should not be rewarded, and it certainly shouldn't be all that's left of a person.

"Unachieved goals and unattainable dreams shape a person more than what they've accomplished. It tells of who they are and who they hope to be... It is the centre of their personality, drive, and soul."

Bastion's nose scrunched up. He obviously didn't understand what she was trying to say.

Diana sighed. "You can tell more about a person by knowing that their impossible goal was to end world hunger, or help out a friend, more than knowing that they like to go on skiing trips on the weekend..."

Diana took the leaf from Bastion and held it delicately in her hand. Then, at last, she moved it closer to the Elm. Like a magnet, the leaf hovered from her hand and clutched back onto the tree. It's dulling form started to glow bright green again, as if it was given new life.

"The path from here should lead us straight toward the rivers Acheron and Styx. We must cross them if we wish to escape." Diana pondered. "Usually it would be no small task to fly over the rivers, but this is Hades realm. My powers are dulled here... We'll have to take Charon's boat."

"Charon?" Bastion was starting to think that his voice wouldn't allow anything other than questions to leave his mouth.

"The Ferryman. He delivers the souls of the dead to the other side, where they are judged and sorted into their eternity."

Bastion shook his head in disbelief, yet again. He didn't know why he bothered asking these things... He never understood her answers anyway. They were both too cryptic, and too far fetched. Nevertheless, he followed Diana as she continued down the bone riddled path. She was his best chance of survival, after all.


End file.
